Flamingo - Next Release

Next Release

Flamingo 2.0 is currently in development. Flamingo 1.1 users are invited to download the work-in-progress version.

New features include:

Enhanced user interface
Content browser with drag-and-drop support
Environment Manager with support for multiple environments and templates
Reflected environment option (global)
Global illumination light dome with HDRI support
Material and texture preview in Rendered display mode
Sun and parallel light soft shadows
Improved soft shadows, blurry transparency, and blurry reflection
New decal interface with preview
Post-render, real-time depth of field
Post-render, real-time glare
Post-render, real-time haze
Materials and plants saved in the 3DM file with pack-and-go.
Foliage density per plant
Batch rendering using scripts
Render views by name
Image size and resolution saved in the file
Save photometric images to file
Support for Piranesi EPix
Multiple camera styles including cylindrical and spherical projections
Texture baking
Larger resolution image management
RPC 3.0 support
Polygonal groundcover
Decal across multiple objects
Clipping planes
Shadow control per object
Missing material/decal bitmap report

Our development process

Since we rely on customer input to set priorities, refine features, and help us fix problems unique to their systems, processes, or related software, we provide our customers with as much information as possible during every phase of Flamingo development.

We start involving customers by releasing a Work-in-Progress (WIP) to the newsgroup. WIP releases (many call this the Alpha release phase) are not production ready, and many ideas and technologies will only be prototyped. Customer feedback at this stage will have the most impact on how features and enhancements are designed.

The WIP process normally takes 3 to 6 months.

Once we have most of the core changes finished and tested, we will start releasing beta versions. The betas should be production ready but may not have a final user interface. This stage takes another 3 to 6 months.

Each WIP and Beta release will expire after about two months. A new WIP or Beta release will always be available before yours expires. This ensures that you always have the latest software, and that we don't receive reports about bugs that have already been fixed.

We will only do the final release when the beta users tell us it is ready.

Enhanced user interface
Dockable panels stay open and update while other commands run. Panels include:

Content Manager (materials, lights, RPC, plants, and favorites)
Material Manager
Light Manager
Environment Manager
Camera Manager (coming)
Plant Manager
RPC Manager (coming)
Rendering controls (coming)

Tear off tabs to their own windows or place onto other panels. (Right-click to show or hide tabs... coming.)

Drag and drop materials and objects
Content browser with drag-and-drop support from libraries to:

Assign materials to layers, colors, and objects
Add bitmaps to materials (coming)
Insert lights, RPC objects, plants, clipping planes, and objects (coming)

Windows Explorer integration
In Windows Explorer you can:

Access materials and objects
Double-click materials to edit them
Organize Flamingo folders

Environment manager
The Environment Manager allows:

Quick access to environment settings
Multiple environments
Environment templates

Globally reflected environment
Specify an environment that only reflects in objects, but is separate from the visible background. Use a separate environment to make metals and glass look better without having to change the background you see. Reflected environment settings are available through the Environment Manager.

Materials and plants saved in file
Materials and plants are saved in the 3DM file, so if the drawing is sent to someone else, it will render properly. In combination with Flamingo's pack-and-go utility, you can send a whole package to another person.

Global illumination light dome with HDRI support
The light dome object creates a complete environment of lights to implement a new global illumination scheme. HDRI images can be used as light sources.

Support for Piranesi EPix
Save images in the EPix format for the Piranesi paint program.

Sun and parallel light soft shadows
Both the sun and parallel lights sources can cast soft shadows. Set the amount of shadow through the properties of each light.

Softness controls the angle of the shadows, Jitter controls the amount of noise to blur out the shadows, and Samples controls how many rays are cast to sample the shadow.

Improved soft shadows, blurry transparency, and blurry reflection
Increased samples and jitter give better control and quality.

Foliage density per plant
Specify foliage density by plant to increase rendering efficiency. Reduce the foliage on plants that are in the distance or are grouped with others.

Missing material/decal bitmap report
Missing material and decal bitmaps are reported on the command line.

Batch rendering using scripts
Scripts can be used to change environments, load cameras, change layer states, and run batch jobs.

Save photometric images
Save photometric images to file. Edit the file later to apply brightness, shadow darkness, contrast and depth of field without re-rendering.

Post rendering effects
Post render effects filters allow you to apply effects to images after rendering.